Nordic Walking The Thames Path: Leg 6

Leg Six: Abingdon-on-Thames to Wallingford

When: Tuesday 9th September 2025

Miles Walked: 16.29

Steps Taken: 32,562

Moving Time: 4:50:18

Elevation Gain:74 ft

This morning is an absolutely gorgeous morning! Steve drops me off in a riverside car park and so there’s not far to walk to get to the start of my walk today! The bridge is looking stunning with the blue-sky back drop and the riverside is already quite busy with folk milling about, dog walkers and boaters. On the opposite bank is St Helen’s Church which is unusual as it is wider than it is long, with five aisles! As I begin to walk along the river I keep passing men (mostly) with vast amounts of fishing gear, it transpires that today is the start of the annual 3 day fishing event known as Thames Festival with over 60 competitors. They sit right out on the river on specially built seats! Their pegs go on for three fields! Well, it’s a nice day for it! It’s also a nice day for some rowers as I pass boathouses on the opposite bank.

The path continues around field edges and I spot a Red Admiral amongst the brambles and copious amounts of hops in the hedgerows. I see what looks like the cooling towers at Didcot Power Station in the distance, but they were demolished so I don’t have a clue what I am looking at! Answers on a postcard please! There’s a tractor in one of the fields, I think he may be spreading fertilizer, but they obviously have a better class of tractor following birds here in Oxfordshire because there are Red Kites swooping along behind it! I follow a shaded path for a bit and then reach Culham Lock. Culham Lock is one of the two deepest locks on the River Thames, the other is at Sandford.

Once through Culham Lock I have to cross a road, but as I go through the gate I notice there are some rather tasty looking mini-plums and so I grab a handful, cross the road over Sutton Bridge and enjoy a tasty fresh snack on the path. The path goes under the railway.

The path here is dappled with sunlight and I pass through fields with pill boxes in them, spy a heron taking off (not quick enough with my phone to capture it)passing through fallen crab apple corridors and young willow trees standing like sentry guards on the riverside, it really is idyllic walking! I walk along Clifton Cut until I reach Clifton Lock which has the most amazing flower displays!

Including this glorious Brugmansia! It’s a short hop from here to Clifton Hampden and I’ve just received a text from Steve, he’s at the bridge in Clifton Hampden where he reckons is a good spot for a swim! The red brick bridge was opened in 1867, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and has seven Gothic arches and pointed abutments with random flared headers in Flemish bond, it is a beauty! I meet Steve on the riverside and we agree on a dip, by the time he has returned and we are changed a pair of swans have appeared with eight cygnets! Although still grey in colour they are almost adults size and I do not fancy getting in the water where there might be aggressive swans! So we wait until they have moved on…about twenty minutes! I get in a shallower tributary and my feet sink into the sandy silt, but the water is not too cold and I slowly acclimatise by wading further out. We enjoy a refreshing dip and dry off in sunshine, I decide to warm up by getting off back to the trail and having a brisk Nordic Walk where possible.

Walking across the bridge and heading along the opposite bank I spy the spire of a church that was hidden from view until now. I’m walking alongside the river on my left and a nature reserve to my right, this one is managed by Earth Trust (based in Oxfrodshire) and there are some information poles along the way with drawings of animals you can expect to see here, they have also created backwater channels and ponds here to enable wildlife to flourish. There are more Red Kites here!

In the distance I can see Wittenham Clumps, a pair of wooded chalk hills in the Thames Valley, more properly known as the Sinodun Hills, the name Wittenham Clumps refers to the two clumps of beech trees which crown both hills. These are the oldest known planted hilltop beeches in England dating back 300 years. There are big houses and boathouse along this stretch of river, some old and some more modern!

I’m meeting Steve at the foot of Wittenham Clumps for lunch today outside St Peter’s Church and to get there I have to go through Day’s Lock and then cross over the river on Little Wittenham Bridge and walk up the road, it’s a lovely spot and right opposite the entrance to go up to Wittenham Clumps.

The next stretch of the Thames Path is back in fields again, passing Horse Chestnut trees that are signalling Autumn is on it’s way, dropping a carpet of burnished leaves for me to scuffle through. This area is near to Bishop’s Court Farm and is steeped in history and nearby Dorchester was one of the most important towns in the kingdom of Wessex in the reign of King Cynegils (Saxon King) in 611. It is believed that King Cynegils and other members of the royal family were baptised in the River Thames near here, by Saint Birinius, the first bishop of Dorchster. Cynegils daughter, Cyneburg was also married to King Oswald of Northumbria to cement relations between the two kingdoms, although it took nearly another 300 years to have a United Kingdom of England! Along the banks here I completely miss a turning taking me up to the road and have to back track to find my way, however I feel slightly better when I realise the waymarkers and posts are missing! I walk along the busy A4074 and turn towards Shillingford.

Passing down a quiet lane which leads to the river and then through alleyways I eventually come to Shillingford Bridge, I completely miss Shillingford Bridge Hotel where I needed to get a stamp for my passport though! The path along the river here has an interesting hurdle of a fallen tree in several parts making it awkward to clamber over and lovely tree tunnels where trees have arched over. It’s a great stretch of the path until… I hit the ‘closed for Benson Weir Refurbishment’ sign. I knew this was awaiting me and I had hoped to call for a ferry, but there is no-one available to take me today, so I will have to follow the lengthy diversion instead.

The diversion starts off down a little lane with pretty thatched cottages and I pass the tiniest deer I ever saw, it must have been injured because it saw me and didn’t scarper! The remaining diversion was dull and along a busy road and industrial area and I felt like giving up, however I soon was out on the Crowmarsh Gifford to Wallingford road and passing the campsite where we were staying, so I didn’t bother going all the way into Wallingford!

A random adornment for the front of your house, a Penny Farthing!